Tesla Motors or, more accurately, company CEO Elon Musk has hinted at the prospect of an electric pickup for quite some time. But neither the automaker nor the CEO ever issued any kind of concrete guarantee on it, even after other manufacturers had already beaten it to the punch.
However, Musk is now officially promising the pickup will be made immediately after the Model Y crossover arrives sometime between 2019 and 2020. Of course, he also promised that Model 3 deliveries would hit its stride before the end of this year. So let’s consider this more of an assurance that Tesla will produce the electric truck and not so much an indication of when you might see one on public roads.
“I promise that we will make a pickup truck right after Model Y. Have had the core design/engineering elements in my mind for almost 5 years. Am dying to build it,” Musk said in a Twitter post from Tuesday.
When questioned as to the vehicle’s scale, Musk claimed it would be similar in size to the Ford F-150 or possible a tad bigger “to account for a really gamechanging (I think) feature I’d like to add.” However, he didn’t elaborate on what that feature might be.
Tesla first announced plans for an electrified pickup truck last July — part of its “Master Plan” to develop a commercial truck, a bus, and the Model Y compact SUV. At the time, Musk said he wanted to see a working prototype of the pickup showcased within 18 to 24 months.
[Image: Tesla Motors]
So now we have Models S, 3, X and Y.
What will be the 5th model designation?
(Model M, followed by a revamped Model 3?)
Between this and “Boring Company” Elon is clearly more fun then your average CEO. Can’t wait to see if Falcon Heavy can land all 3 sections. He may be spreading himself thin doing too many projects but you can’t blame him for not trying what others have only dreamed of.
SpaceX deserves a lot of credit for its successes; that said, I strongly suspect Falcon Heavy will experience an Earth-shattering RUD at or before max Q.
I think pretty much everyone expects the first FH to fail including Elon. It took spacex almost a dozen flights before they perfected the F9 vertical landing.
“SpaceX deserves a lot of credit for its successes; that said, I strongly suspect Falcon Heavy will experience an Earth-shattering RUD at or before max Q.”
Maybe. Maybe not. They’ve already proven that the two side-boosters can fly and RTB (return to base… meaning safely land after flight) while the center booster is apparently a brand-new one carrying the payload higher before it, too, separates and attempts a landing. Keep in mind that the Arianne rockets from France have been flying in this configuration for a few years now; I doubt SpaceX will experience any unexpected Max-Q issues.
I’ve followed SpaceX since its first (failed) Falcon 1 launch from Omelek. It’s been great fun (and more than a little surprising) to watch it develop into a viable space launch company, but I’m not optimistic about Falcon Heavy’s chances after Musk admitted a few months ago that it’s basically a lame duck product. He’d rather have SpaceX focus on the BFR to take him to Mars… possibly to escape the wrath of disgruntled Model 3 depositors?
All these promises and no vehicles reminds me of the dumb ass running FCA.
Well all these new projects seem to keep the media from fretting about the Fremont plant. So I assume we’ll next see promises of Tesla airplanes, railroad engines, motorcycles, bass boats, and snowmobiles.
At least a Carnival Barker is selling a real ride. This is a Gas Bag Alert. As Tesla fails to deliver the results of a real auto company, the more Elon needs to sling out to distract from reality. The only true winners are the stock brokers and a few investment bankers who got in very early on the scheme.
Also, Fremont is no place to have a cost effective Auto Plant.
You forgot the fact that Tesla’s Model S outsold S-class, 7-series and A8 combined. Every year. I know you’re going to say that it’s easy to do, and that every year newly created nameplates do that, but still…
Does the US give tax credits for those other cars?
You don’t think that $250k+ household income coastal liberals’s demand for $100k+ cars is that elastic to $7,500 tax credit, do you?
Of course, GM and Toyota, who originally built the plant, proved that, right?
Hey, when you’re strapped for budget, is it not logical to buy something pre-built and modify it for the need rather than building from scratch? It worked to produce the original Roadster and Model S, after all, even if their numbers weren’t up to GM/Toyota’s maximums. As it is, you don’t yet know what modifications were made inside, beyond what we’ve seen on television and some few blog posts.
Naa…FCA will get a truck to market and I’d rather own a Giulia than a Tesla
Said no one, ever.
Well I said it. So long as it is the half a Ferrari V6 motor. The Tesla is quieter and faster in a straight line but the Alfa’s noise is glorious and it handles. If I want to just go fast in a straight line I can pull a 70s Nova out of someone’s back yard and go really fast 1/4 mile at a time for way under 6 figures.
It would be seriously fun to see a Model S pitted against a Giulia Quadrifoglio in a long term reliability test. Which one would spend more time out of service?
I would happily take either one as a tester and post my impressions here (and on my personal blog.) Personally, I don’t believe either one is as bad as most here want to believe.
Elon Musk is a genius the way P.T. Barnum was a genius.
Exactly.
Especially his SpaceX hoax. There are close to a hundred successful private space companies that fly many more rockets to the orbit, yet this P.T Barnum reincarnation gets all the attention. I bet his battery making plant in Nevada does not even exist, aside from the fake pictures. And seriously, has anyone ever seen a Model S or X in person?
Sarcasm aside, these “non-believers” remind me of crazy coastal liberals and “mainstream” media that keep insisting that “Worse-Than-Hitler” is Putin’s puppet, no matter what he does. Clearly only a Nazi would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
I wouldn’t call SpaceX a hoax. They took excellent technology (and probably a few old engineers) of DC-X and commercialized it onto conventional rocket booster, and they made it work. They also are running gas-generator motors at over three hundred seconds at sea-level – nine at a time on a single bus – and not losing any launch vehicles due to motor failures. F9H will run twenty-seven motors at liftoff; a scale of booster not seen since the Evil Empire’s Energiya stack. All in all pretty amazing stuff.
And earlier this year, Musk admitted he wants to scrap the whole thing (Falcon 9 and Heavy, Dragon and Dragon2) and devote SpaceX’s resources to the BFR that will take him to Mars.
Sadly, Musk is moving SpaceX further towards the Tesla model, in which What We Have Now will never be as important to him as What We Want Later. This doesn’t make me optimistic for Falcon Heavy’s chances for success, and that’s sad because – unlike Tesla – SpaceX appeared well on the way towards becoming a viable and profitable enterprise.
That nice, Elon. Get the motherf***ing Model 3 out first.
This is what makes an (initial) successful company-going off in several different directions-(yea-right!)
Of course-if he can get deposits for all these imaginary products-it will keep the company from going under.
Que SCE.
That’s why he keeps announcing this vaporware. He needs funding.
Pickup? LOL
The entire customer base of Tesla is rich coastal liberals who need to virtue signal to each other how much they love Mother Gaia. These people would rather walk over broken glass to their destination than be seen in – never mind actually drive – a pickup.
Pickups are for deplorables in sister-humping flyover states, not beautiful people in Los Gatos, Santa Monica or Marin County.
+1
If thinking is a priority in your mind, pickups usually make little sense.
1968 – Richard Nixon campaigns on a secret plan to end the Vietnam war.
1992 – Bernie Madoff markets a secret investment method that guarantees 20+% annual returns.
2017 – Elon Musk promises a new electric pickup with a secret feature that will be available in only 2 years – right after the semi, roadsters, and crossover.
Which secret is most plausible?
Looking forward to seeing it but was really hoping for something smaller.